Girl Meets Semi-Formal
Girl Meets Semi-Formal is the thirteenth episode in season 2 of Girl Meets World and the 34th episode overall. It aired on August 14, 2015 as a part of the Disney's Sounds of Summer event to 2.2 million viewers. Overview Riley is torn when another boy, instead of Lucas, asks her to a big school dance. Meanwhile, Eric is visited by an old friend who seems lost. Plot In the school hallways, Riley tells Maya the Semi-Formal dance is this weekend and Lucas still hasn't asked her. Maya points out that Riley has been obsessing about this for the past ten months. After Maya has been slamming her locker shut every day for ten months, Riley wonders why Cory always yells after Maya's locker slams shut. Maya explains that her locker backs on to the wall holding the blackboard in Cory's classroom; the force of the slamming locker door kicks up a cloud of chalk dust startling Cory. After Maya tells Riley she will keep doing it until Cory comes out, Cory emerges from his classroom covered in chalk dust and chases Maya down the hallway. In class, Cory talks about the concept of etiquette. When Lucas mentions the upcoming dance, Riley asks him if he's planning to attend the dance which he has failed to talk to her about in the last ten months. Cory interrupts Riley and Lucas' conversation to show the class an old-timey safety film. Riley tells Farkle she just wants to be invited to the dance, but she turns down his invitation. At home, Eric, now a senator, enters the Matthews' apartment dressed as a secret service agent. He tells Cory (whom he gives the code name "Undapants") that he has been stalked by some guy ever since he became a senator. When Cory lets the stalker in, the man identifies himself as Agent LaChance, Eric's Secret Service detail, and also remarks that Eric is the smartest person he ever worked for. After the agent tells Eric to reveal why he's in town, Eric says he's in New York to meet a representative from an evil business that is trying to buy his vote over an oil pipeline. The next day at school, Riley tells Maya she thinks Lucas is waiting until the last minute to do "The Big Ask". As Maya lists all the extravagant gestures she thinks Lucas won't do, they each come true and happen to Riley: She finds balloons in her locker, a line of students walk by each handing Riley roses until they become a large bouquet, a disco ball then drops down from the ceiling, a music fanfare starts playing, a banner unfurls, and Yogi skates by. Just as Maya thinks it might actually be happening, Riley excitedly accepts the dance invitation before realizing it is not Lucas asking her, but Charlie Gardner! After Riley's surprise invitation, Maya gives a running commentary in an old-timey voice similar to the narrator in the film they watched in class. Charlie can't believe Riley said yes; he says he waited ten months for Lucas to ask Riley out, but when Lucas never did he decided to take a chance. Charlie tells Riley she's the kind of girl who deserves to get swept off her feet, hence the surprises. Riley tries to get out of going to the dance with Charlie by saying she can't go because she has to babysit Auggie. At that point Lucas appears behind her and is disappointed to hear she can't go to the dance, but he is more dismayed that Charlie asked her out, saying he and Riley have an unofficial thing going on; in other words, Lucas didn't ask Riley to the dance because he assumed he and Riley were already going together. At Topanga's, Eric waits for the businessman. When his old friend Jack Hunter walks up behind him, Eric is happy to see him for the first time in ages. When Eric sits Jack down and explains how he is waiting for the evil corporate representative, he slowly realizes that Jack is that representative. As an "idiot genius", Eric already knows Jack and Rachel both joined the Peace Corps at the same time, but then Jack left (while Rachel stayed) to join the evil company and has not been the same since. When Eric wonders why Jack is now working for an evil organization and Jack recalls how when they were younger the biggest decision they had to make was who should be with Rachel. Jack says he did not realize that life was preparing them to make the right decisions later, but then you get a little older, face another choice and make the wrong decision. Now, they are both in a position to influence the world, but who will influence who? At The Bay Window, Riley needs Maya's help with her semi-formal double booking, but Maya's all out of advice. When Cory and Topanga come to check on them, they're disappointed to learn Riley lied to Charlie to get out of the date with him. After Riley explains she had a vision in her mind of how the semi-formal would go with Lucas asking her, Maya says that Riley did nothing wrong, that she's just confused, but when Riley again asks Maya what she learned about her relationship with Lucas when she was pretending to be her, Maya is evasive and simply tells Riley to go to the dance; Cory and Topanga agree, saying it will be punishment enough for lying as Riley will have to face both Lucas and Charlie. When Riley and Maya arrive at the dance, Riley's hopeful the big turnout means she won't run into either Lucas or Charlie, but they're both already there. After Farkle asks Riley for a dance, Maya cuts in and dances off with him instead to give Riley time to talk to her would-be suitors: Charlie said he knew he had to "bring it" after Lucas rode Riley out of the gymnasium on a white horse, and then Lucas conceded points to Charlie for his belief that the semi-formal deserved a little extra effort. They both admit they now like each other and, thanks to Riley, have formed a new friendship. When Riley asks what she's supposed to do next, Lucas and Charlie leave it up to her and go mingle with the others. Eric brings Jack to the school dance, saying he's taking Jack back in time to their own school days; Eric then points out Cory to Jack, and he goes over to say hi, just as Riley comes up and asks for advice about her dilemma. Jack is astonished that Cory has a daughter and asks what fatherhood is like; Cory says he can find out by taking care of Riley's question. Jack tells Riley about how he and Eric competed for Rachel's affections; Rachel liked Jack like a boyfriend and Eric like a brother. Riley asks if they still see each other, and while Jack replies he hasn't seen her in years, Eric says he talks to her all the time. Jack advises Riley to keep her friends around as long as she can. Now with a lot to think about, Riley goes back to dance with her friends. After Jack says keeping Eric around was always the best choice he ever made, Eric excuses himself and goes on stage to introduce a special treat for the kids after their work to get him elected: the Australian band Sheppard, who performs their hit song "Geronimo". As the kids dance, Lucas and Charlie are both dancing around Riley. When Lucas spins around, he is suddenly dancing with Maya, while Riley keeps dancing with Charlie. After Riley apologizes to Charlie that things didn't work out as planned, he forgives her since they're there together anyway. Farkle says they're all dancing and Lucas says they're all friends. What else is there to figure out? Back home, Eric records a public service announcement with Riley (whom he calls his niche) and Maya (whom he calls 'Mayonnaise') about global warming. Cast Main cast *Rowan Blanchard as Riley Matthews *Ben Savage as Cory Matthews *Sabrina Carpenter as Maya Hart *Peyton Meyer as Lucas Friar *Corey Fogelmanis as Farkle Minkus *Danielle Fishel as Topanga Matthews Special guest cast *Sheppard as Themselves ** George Sheppard ** Amy Sheppard ** Emma Sheppard ** Michael Butler ** Jason Bovino ** Dean Gordon Guest cast *Will Friedle as Eric Matthews/Film Narrator *Matthew Lawrence as Jack Hunter *Tanner Buchanan as Charlie Gardner *Phil Morris as Agent LaChance *Justin Ellings as Billy *Haley Hauser as Sally *Sarah Carpenter as Sarah *Darby Walker as Darby Absent cast *August Maturo as Auggie Matthews Quotes Trivia *August Maturo (Auggie Matthews) does not appear in this episode, but he is mentioned by Riley. *First, and only, appearance of Jack Hunter, last seen in the BMW finale "Brave New World, Part 2." *Jack Hunter is the fifteenth BMW character to appear in GMW *First appearance of Charlie Gardner, whom Cory likes, and notes has been "a little quiet so far." *This marks the only time a reel film projector (and screen) is used in the History classroom. *Will Friedle both wrote and guest starred in this episode, as well as providing the voice of the film narrator, which Maya mockingly mimics while describing Riley's dilemma throughout the episode. *The name of the 1950's film featuring Billy and Sally was He Asked Me, He Asked Me, He Really Asked Me. *The band, Sheppard, guest starred in this episode and performed their hit song "Geronimo". *This episode was a part of the "Sounds of Summer" event. *Flashbacks from ten and five months before are depicted. *In the present and the ten and five months flashbacks, Charlie can be seen in the background watching Riley. *Charlie attempted to teach Yogi how to roller-skate in a single day. *Maya has the lyric sheet for Frank Sinatra's "The Girl From Ipanema," on the inside of her locker door. *Maya has made a daily habit of slamming her locker door to cause chalk dust to fly out at Cory. *Rachel McGuire is mentioned. *First appearance of Eric's Secret Service protector, Agent LaChance . *Eric refers to Cory as Feeny when he takes Jack to the Semi-Formal. *References from Girl Meets Yearbook and Girl Meets Friendship are made. *Actress Haley Hauser debuts as Sally, but later returned in a new role as Haley, a contemporary JQA student in Girl Meets Creativity. *When Jack mentions Rachel, Eric yells out "RACHEL!" in a callback to two season 6 Boy Meets World episodes: Bee True and State of the Unions. *Eric's codename for Cory, "Undapants", is a callback to the season 6 Boy Meets World episode "Hogs and Kisses". *Eric sneezes after reciting information about the pipeline and about Jack, which may be a callback to the Boy Meets World season 7 episode "How Cory and Topanga Got Their Groove Back", in which Eric's sneezes allow him to get glimpses of the future. *Eric mentions Jack's history since he and Rachel joined the Peace Corps in the Boy Meets World finale, "Brave New World". Jack left the Peace Corps while Rachel stayed, then he took a job at an evil corporation. Eric mentions that he hadn't seen Jack in years and Jack tells Riley he hasn't seen Rachel in years. *Eric tells Riley that he is still great friends with Rachel and they speak all the time. *Riley realizes that she'll want Lucas in her life no matter what, boyfriend or just a friend. She matured greatly in this episode. *There is no mention of the fact Jack is Shawn's half-brother in this episode, and the only mention of Jack's surname is by Eric and again within the episode's credits. *It would appear that Jack and Shawn have fallen out of touch since the end of Boy Meets World. It was revealed in Girl Meets Home for the Holidays that Shawn was present at Riley's birth, yet Jack seems surprised to learn that Cory has a daughter. International Premieres * February 23, 2016 (Latin America, Brazil) * March 7, 2016 (Israel) * March 11, 2016 (Portugal) * March 25, 2016 (Spain) * April 15, 2016 (Philippines) * May 16, 2016 (Poland) * July 15, 2016 (Italy) * September 17, 2016 (Hungary) Gallery Transcript Videos Girl Meets World - Girl Meets Semi-Formal Promo Girl Meets World - "Girl Meets Semi-Formal" - Episode Clip Sheppard "Geronimo" Girl Meets World Disney Channel Category:Season 2 Category:Episodes Category:Season 2 episodes Category:Aired episodes